Apple may have ‘conservative’ sales expectations for the first version of ‘Apple Glasses’

The upcoming “Apple Glasses” — an augmented reality/virtual reality/mixed reality head-mounted display (HMD) —  “pricey, niche precursor” to a more ambitious augmented reality product, according to a new report from Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman.

Quoting unnamed “people with knowledge of the matter,” he says the initial device (which not even be dubbed Apple Glasses) has confronted several development hurdles and the company has “conservative” sales expectations. Gurman adds that As a mostly virtual reality device, it will display an all-encompassing 3-D digital environment for gaming, watching video and communicating. AR functionality, the ability to overlay images and information over a view of the real world, will be more limited, he adds. 

When it comes to Apple Glasses, such a device will arrive this year or 2022, depending on which rumor you believe. The Sellers Research Group (that’s me) thinks Apple will at least preview it before the end of the year. 

It will be a head-mounted display. Or may have a design like “normal” glasses. Or it may be available in both. The Apple Glasses may or may not have to be tethered to an iPhone to work. Other rumors say that Apple Glasses could have a custom-build Apple chip and a dedicated operating system dubbed “rOS” for “reality operating system.